Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-10-13
POPULAR SCIENCE.

PETRIF1ED Holsters, clans, turtles,
and the like are found in great abun-
dance in the Santa Catalina Mountains
in Arizona, at q height of nearly 1O,-
900 feet above the level of the sea.
Two SKELETONS dug up several
months ago in cave near Orneau, in
Belgium, appear to belong to the Oldest
race of which any record exists. These
prehistoric individuals were contem-
porary with the mammoth, and in.
habited the country before the great
ice age. They were short and thick-set,
with broad shoulders, supporting
long and narrow head, with an ex-
tremely low forehead.
The International Institute of Sta
tistics has just had convention in
Rome. and one of the most interest
ing points it established is the fact that
the death rate in Europe has been
very much reduced during the past
century. People are living longer and
are more healthy than they were one
hundred years ago, and this happy re-
suit is attributed to the progress of
medical science, and especially to the
energetic sanitary measures that have
been adopted everywhere.
The particular Office of flies appears
to be the consumption of those dead
and minute animals whose decaying
myriads would otherwise poison the
air. It was remark of Linnnus that
three flies could consume dead horre
sooner than lion could. He doubtless
included the families of these three
flies. A single fly, the naturalist tells
us, will sometimes produce 10000
larve, each of which, in few DAYS,
may be the parent of another 10000,
and thus the descendants of three flies
will devorlr an animal much larger
than horse.
DIR. HELLMANN's researches show
that in Schleswig-H -Holstein, during q
period of ten years, of all the buildings
struck by lightning only nine per cent.
Of those with ''hard" roofing caught
fire, while 6S per cent of those with
soft" roofing caught fire. The risk
from lightning to churches and bell
towers was thirty-nine times, and to
windmills fifty-two times greater than
to ordinary hard-roofed buildings. The
danger from lightning decreases also
"AsAA viz liSAS5o VI uuo uuulDGI OI
houses in given district. In the rural
districts of Prussia the risk is five times
greater than in the cities. It was found
that the geological features of the
ground had much to do with the fre-
quency of lightning strokes, flat and
moist lands. especially with loan, be-
ing most exposed to the deadly thun-
der-bolt
AT recent meeting of the Physio-
logical Society of Berlin. it was stated
that when the bee has filled the cell
either with pure honey or mixture of
pollen-dough and honey, and has COM
pleted the lid, drop of formic acid
obtained from the poison-bag con-
nected with the sting is added to the
honey by perforating the lid with the
sting. Numerous experiments show
that this formic acid preserves honey
and every other solution from fermen-
,.ation. If this be well established, it
will show that the sting and the poison
apparatus of the bee has u further pur-
pose than that of defensive or offens-
i've weapon. Another interesting fact
suggests itself in connection with this.
SO far as is known, most of the insects
that have stinging apparatus similar to
that of the bee are collectors and
storers of honey.